Crime down in Pittsburgh but killings, rapes up

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Crime in Pittsburgh dropped 6.6 percent in 2013 compared with the year before, but the number of killings and rapes increased, police said Monday.

The Pittsburgh Bureau of Police released an annual report Monday compiling crime statistics for 2013 and other information.

The bureau said violent crime was down 2.6 percent overall because the number of robberies decreased by 15.8 percent. Other forms of violent crime increased, police said.

Pittsburgh recorded 46 homicides in 2013 compared with 40 the year before. Aggravated assaults rose from 1,186 to 1,259, and robberies dropped from 1,148 to 967, according to the report.

A “significant increase” occurred in the number of rapes because of a change in the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting definition, which now includes male victims of rape, the department said in a news release. The bureau recorded 90 rapes in 2013 compared with 51 the year before, a change of 39.

Sonya Toler, spokeswoman for Pittsburgh public safety, said officers in the police bureau's command staff were not available to speak in depth about the statistics in the annual report.

She said, “Various factors can be attributed to the reduced number of robberies, including better practices, such as data-driven policing, and efforts to educate the public on how not to become a victim of crime help by reducing the opportunities for criminals to commit crime.”

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